HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS — Before anyone else in Los Angeles points another finger at Pau Gasol, Mike Brown, Ramon Sessions or any of the other convenient scapegoats in the wake of a second straight second-round playoff exit, look in the mirror.

Stare long and hard and ask yourself if you didn’t see this coming. Didn’t you realize last season, when Andrew Bynumwas heading to visitor’s locker room in Dallas without his jersey, that this team was fatally flawed and had no chance of overcoming its own internal obstacles?

Like an aging heavyweight champ who gets K.O.’d in his last bout and then comes back into the ring the next time without truly understanding what went wrong, the Lakers got popped against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. This time, it came by believing in their ability to overcome any obstacle with sheer talent alone.

Avoiding the sweep this time around shouldn’t ease the sting for Lakers fans, either. They knew (better than most) what they saw from this group during last season’s semifinal flame-out against the Mavericks exposed the team’s flaws.

Why would anyone, Kobe Bryant included, be surprised at Gasol’s struggles against the Thunder when you saw him crumble against the Mavericks?

You replaced a living legend in Phil Jackson with a good coach in Brown, but if Jackson couldn’t get this team over the proverbial hump in his final season, why would anyone assume Brown would be capable of pulling it off now? And Sessions was supposed to be the anti-Derek Fisher — a younger, more athletically gifted point guard capable of matching up better against the league’s younger and more athletic guards. He proved to be just as ill-equipped to handle Russell Westbrook as Fisher would have been.

This is a mess of the Lakers’ own making, whether they admit it or not. They are the ones that tossed Jackson’s hand-picked successor, Brian Shaw, aside in favor of Brown. They saw the cracks in their foundation and opted for some instant sealant instead of legit fixes.

Sure, we’ll give them credit for trying to address a glaring issue in the preseason with that squashed trade for Chris Paul, a missed opportunity that has haunted their every move since.

But Paul alone wouldn’t have solved all the Lakers’ problems. They want to depend on Bynum and treat him like the elite, low-post anchor this franchise has always had during their championship runs. The only thing he has in common right now with the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal is the need to duck when walking through most doorways.

He’s not in their class at this stage of the game, not even close. And for anyone within the organization to make him feel that way is a travesty and even more detrimental to Bynum’s continuing development as any of his own antics (unauthorized 3-pointers, sulking on the end of the bench during timeouts, etc.) have been or will be.

The Lakers aren’t the first team to look at the expiration date on their roster and try to push it a little bit. They thought they could squeeze one more run out of this group. We heard Kobe loud and clear last night when he said this was not going to be a repeat of the Bad Boys Pistons, who after finally being vanquished by the Michael Jordan-led Bulls in the 1991 East finals, disappeared into the NBA’s witness protection program for the next decade or so.

He’s probably right. The Lakers won’t fade into the Lottery litter, not as long as Bryant is capable of doing what he did this season and in the postseason. (For the record, the Lakers have to be able to lean on more than just an inspired Bryant and a determined Metta World Peace with their season on the line.) But what he’s missed sitting in the middle of the storm is what the rest of us can see from the distance: these Lakers are who we all thought they were a year ago.

They finished this season as basically the same flawed bunch they were when Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and the Mavericks crushed them in the conference semifinals finals sweep.

So if, as Bryant suggested, it’s going to take a little time to process all of this before the Lakers’ brass (Jim Buss and GM Mitch Kupchak) get together and decide who stays and who goes, there needs to be a significant time set aside for reflection.

218 Comments

The Lakers need to trade Ron Artest, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, in the last game they had a combind 35 points, Kobe had 42 by himself!!! They need to get Dwight Howard and if they can’t mabye they will get a good power forward in the 2012 draft like Antony Davis .

Y’all missing the forrest. Lakers repair work is easy and it has nothing to do with a point guard.

Three moves: Practice the new system, Lamar, and anyone who can consistently shoot a three.

Break it down…

1) In all games, all year long and most noticeably in the playoffs, the bench was an issue. Why? Because LM was not there to anchor it.

2) In all games, all year long and most noticeably in the playoffs, the three ball was next-to-last.

Let’s be conservative… two extra threes per game (+6), the bench breaks even with opponents (+8)

Add it up, and they beat OKC handily. So call Metta crazy, but he was right – they should have been up and had them beat. The role players did not execute, the vets were on a new system that they have not yet bought into.

Where do you start with all the problems with the Lakers and can they be fixed in the off-season (or before Kobe becomes too old to still be considered an elite player)? First, Lakers management should have opted to keep Brian Shaw and the previous coaching staff on to replace Phil Jackson. The transition would have been much smoother for the team instead bringing in someone new like Mike Brown who has a different philosophy unfamiliar to the Laker players who had to learn and adapt to a new coaching system in a shortened season. I also believe if Lakers management were going to bring in someone new other than Shaw, it should have been someone with more experience and/or that commands respect in order to coach a team with the talent and egos that go along with some of the Laker players (possibly Jerry Sloan?). As for the players themselves, its obvious that Kobe is still carrying the team which he cannot be expected to do on a daily basis. Their other two “go to” players in the trio, Bynum and Gasol, have been inconsistent throughout the season and you wonder if the Lakers would be better off trading one of the two, or both, if it brought in new players in that performed better. Dwight Howard could be a solution, but with the antics he has going on in Orlando…??? Bynum is talented, but needs an attitude check and needs to mature, while Gasol doesn’t seem to fit in with Bynum on the floor or can’t find his game and is simply not aggressive enough for a player his size. Trading Fisher in order bring in Sessions wasn’t much of an improvement either. Although Sessions was traded to the Lakers mid-season and hasn’t had enough time to adapt, I don’t think he is the answer they were looking for at the point guard position. I guess only time will tell. As for Ron Artest (or Metta World Peace, whatever you would like to call him), he has his flaws, but is one of the few Laker players that can play decent defense and still contribute somewhat on the offensive end. I think trading up from any one of the other players on the roster would be an improvement. The Laker bench is sub-par at best and definitely needs strengthening. Heck, I wouldn’t even mind seeing Odom and Fisher back for one more tour if the Lakers could fill the voids in their starting rotation so these two could come off the bench and bring some reliability and experience. It would be great to get them all together for one more shot at the championship and end their careers on a high note as Lakers, but I think the team has bigger issues to solve first.

To me, what’s missing from the Lakers (with the exception of Kobe) is the will to win. The will to win is what has kept me a Celtics fan, despite the fact that their key players are substancially past their prime. You can tell from interviews that even the Celtics new recruits are instilled with the principals of effort, energy, defense, and hussle and that they are expected to bring that to the floor whenever they are in the game. Because of this, the Celtics win a lot of games they really shouldn’t, simply because of effort. Fisher had this too, which is why Kobe was reluctant to see him go. Bynum could be an x-factor, but only with a full scale attitude adjustment.

First of all Lakers need players that are not afraid to shoot the ball and players who will not just wait for Kobe to solve everything for them offensively. That means that somebody needs to go. Barns(iq 0.001), Blake, Mc Roberts,Artest and also a couple of names from that useless Lakers bench. They have to get younger guys that can score and run the floor as well. Today you cannot beat anybody if you don’t have good transition game. Every opportunity for the fast brake was ruined because Lakers point gourds would slow down the attack and they would wait for everybody to come back making it harder to score. Bynum is too slow as well. He needs to learn a couple quick moves in the paint so he doesn’t get doubled that easy. They also need athletic and good shooting point gourd so they can play Sessions from the bench. Sessions needs to be more aggressive and he needs to dunk the ball when he has the change instead of laying it and being backed at the end.
Gasol, i don’t know what to say about him because Lakers did get two nba rings playing with him and Odom. He certainly became sloppy and there is something in that expression on his face telling us that he blames everybody else but him self for his poor performance.
Kobe needs to pas the ball more often instead of waiting for the shot clock to almost expire before he does something with it. But he will do that as soon as he gets good and trust worthy team because he is still the king to all of them..
Go Lakers!!!

First thing they have to is to sack mike brown. Good defensive coach but useless O. Then trade Gasol for Josh Smith and sign Kirilenko n Krstic. If they can add Beasley n replace Blake with a decent pg even better.

why is lebron always brought up in every nba article. this man is popularrrr. lets not forget that mj was 28 when he won his 1st ring. lebron is 27. get off his case, he just got a good supporting cast. and i read a really ridiculouse comment about kobe winning without shaq like he did it by himself. i guess gasol wasnt an all star and odom is horrible. hmm

I really don’t know why other team’s fan would mind arguing with the thoughts of laker fans about the franchise’s future. haters really gonna hate. I think that what the lakers really needed is an athletic center and piont guard. That would be Howard and D.williams. They can acquire them by trading the inconsistent bynum or pau gasol and other players. I think the lakers has a really good bench. one thing that it’s making it bad because of mike brown’s rotation. imagine the explosive McROb not playing. that’s all they need. a little improvements with the bench and FIRE MIKE BROWN!!!!!

I think the Laker are done, Kobe getting old shooting low percent 43% in the regular season and 40% playoff , they need to rebuild around Andrew Bynum. he’s young and need more touch in the paint, Kobe is done.

If you look at the best two teams, OKC and SA, you see they both have really good two teams playing. They got Manu and Harden coming off the bench and leading the second unit, which is as good as the first. Last year Dallas had the same, off the bench Terry led the second unit.
In this series between Lakers and OKC, one could see that Lakers played par with OKC when starters are on, however they lost for two reasons, (a) there was no second unit (b) Kobe and Bynum could not get a break and they tried to play the whole game, and at the end they had nothing left in their tanks. This led to mistakes from Bryan and Bynum was just standing and watching.

When Lamar was there, Lakers kind of had a potential scorer coming off the bench and lead the second unit, they lost him as well.

I think Lakers should look to beef-up second unit, get enough breaks for Kobe and Bynum and they will be fine.

Let us not finger-point-blame.. But first and foremost, get a new coach.. Sessions who is doing a good job for the first half and he will not be used in the 2nd half!! Why is that?.. Gasol needs to be traded.. He hasn’t get rid of the “trade CP” thing.. It’s right that they should have not dealt Lamar and FIsher.. They should have never gotten Blake..

Lakers are DONE as far as getting to the finals again in the next 2-3 years.

1. Cp3 deal didn’t push thru because of Stern
2. Mike Brown is a great coach but he does little to no adjustments during the playoffs, no real offensive flow in his teams, No set plays in crunch time or after time outs, questionable rotations/substitutions
3. Kobe is one of the greatest players but hes on the decline and aging, hes still pretty good but he wont be able to carry his team in playoffs anymore like he used to around 3years ago. (Kobe has to play off of someone like how Duncan gave way to Tony Parker)
4. Lakers are way over the salary cap, the new and tighter agreement isnt helping them either. No good/high draft picks either.
5. They should get rid of immature Bynum while hes value is still high but watch as the Lakers will try to make him the anchor which i think will fail due to Bynum’s personality/mentality and he will be injured and miss games next season.

Lakers need a lot of adjustments; from pg to reliable 3pt shooter to better bench to big men trades to new coach/system.
No more Finals appearance for LA in the next 2-3 years, No 6th Ring for Kobe.

People want to blame the players but look what happened in the beginning of the season? Their organization was focused more on trading for CP3 and Dwight Howard rather than strengthening the team they already had! Just like in ’04-’07, the Lakers have to reorganize their team to get back to championship form!

What I can’t stand about male coaches is the fact that some just don’t know how to come at their players to motivate them to get out on the court and do their jobs. As a female, I would have pointed out the obvious: “When you put on the purple & gold and step foot on the basketball court, IDGAF what relationship you have outside of these games with the other players. If you have bad blood, upset, dislike, want to stab another player, keep that ish off the court because the only things that matter are reppin’ the Lakers, reppin’ LA, the fans, giving the haters another reason to dislike the team because we can be that great and because we have the greatest player in the world playing with us! Let’s get out there and take home another title..everything else should be outta your minds and the desire for either another ring or your first should supersede any bull that you want to bring to the game!”

I wasn’t even hurt nor surprise that the Lakers didn’t make it to the next round..OKC should stop fantasizing or celebrating that they beat the Lakers..Spurs are lowkey winning with two sweeps under their belt already..been a while since they had an L so they probably don’t remember what that feels like. As long as West wins and Lebronda doesn’t get a ring, I’m good..I CANT with that happening..I just CANT!

Lakers got some works to do but I think it’ll take at least 5 years for them to win the championship again. Kobe is old, he still scores well but he doesn’t help the team better anymore. His “play style” is not suitable for his age. Sad thing is the Lakers cannot win a trophy again until they still lean on Kobe. The last thing I can feel about the Lakers is they are “soft”, easy to be hurt. I’m a fan of Lakers and I wish they can have a little bit of “toughness” as the old Celtics.

What went wrong and when:
1. BYNUM – all year long
2. LAKER FRONT OFFICE – getting rid of Lamar Odom when he was still needed and effective.
3. SESSIONS – decent PG but not the caliber the Lakers needed in the playoffs, it proved too big of a stage for him.
4. LAKER FRONT OFFICE – Fisher would have had no problem going off the bench and his presence in the locker room was sorely missed.
5. BENCH – they didn’t have one.

Don’t blame Brown, he got the Lakers to play defense. Don’t blame Gasol, the game plan should have been more “Gasol/low post”. Don’t blame Kobe, he played with the heart of a champion all season long.

Trading Bynum for Dwight Howard could help, picking up Nash would be great for one year – but i don’t see Nash going for it.

2 reasons why We should trade Andrew Bynum instead of Pau.
* Andrew can fetch other All star big names out there, like Dwight howard for example.
* I dont like Andrew Bynum’s attitude in the Post Season Last year and this year with Denver and OKC. everyone saw Gm.6 in Denver where he didn’t even want to participate in the Huddle when they got blown out of the game. At least Pau was still participating although he is not having a great game. when both were asked about were they will be next Year. Andrew “it doesnt really matter to me where i play next year”. Pau “I still want to be here and fight for this organization”. If i was the GM i would keep the player that wants to be here and continue to fight for this Organization.

Why fingering Gasol out? was he the problem when Kobe lost two stupid balls in third game? was he the problem for the five points from the bench in match five? come´on, this team has to be rebuilt completely, including (sorry for saying this) Kobe!!!! you can´t get six new players every year and expect to have a team … btw Fisher is in the west finals…

I’ve been a Lakers fan since I was 10 years old, the year they moved to LA. One consistent thing about this franchise is they have fewer “down” years than any other franchise. So yes, the current team is on the downslide with many fresh teams on the rise. But as history has proven they will be back sooner rather than later. Maybe a few years as opposed to 10 or more.

On the bright side I will be able to watch the conference finals without emotional involvement. My TV will enjoy not being yelled at too. LOL

This team is fully capable of beating thunder, kobe gives the bigs like 1 quarter to get going and if they don’t he throws up 30 shots, I don’t care if Kobe had 42 points, Jordan dropped 63 points in a playoff game and still lost, Fair enough Gasol was off but they seem to forget that they have a top 2 centre in the league. You change the roster all you want but Kobe still thinks he’s in his 20’s and can beat a team individually if Kobe doesn’t change his game same result every year.

So it’s okay for Kobe to need a good team around him (first the Shaq era, then the good Gasol years), but LeBron gets sh** from everyone because he went to Miami to have a good sidekick? Hypocrisy at it’s finest. The fact is Kobe is a great player, but he could never have done it alone.

Lakers look like they need a good shaking up, some of the players look too comfortable, and others simply not good enough.
Management clearly made some bad choices, they should make some better ones now. But, judging from Kobe’s statements, at least they seem to have got the message they failed to get last year. We’ll see.

Shaq + Kobe = 3
Shaq + Wade = 1
Shaq had help too. Hack a Mamba would be bad, right? I mean, what was Kobe’s free throw percentage back then? I think it was in the Hack a Shaq era that the Black Mamba was born too. Those two were partners.

Kobe + Pau = 2
Kobe needs another partner now. Pau and Drew are nutcases right now. They need a shrink or something.

All of you look only at the individual. This is a team sport. RW is what he is because of the other 4 around him. OKC has always another 2+ guys that can shoot on the floor on same time as RW. This increases the spacing on the floor and relaxes the 1:1 defense against RW. Look what RW does in 1/2 court game in those periods when Durant or others around can’t score! Not much! Leaving aside OKC that are a great TEAM regardless when playing with 1st 5 or 2nd team, Lakers biggest problem is that they have only one scorrer. Bynum and Gasol have no juice in 2nd half (how many times Bynum had a great 1st half game only and almost no production in 2nd part?), MWP shoots more briks than baskets and Sessions can’t help with 1 or 2 penetrations but no perimiter shooting. Who’s left? Only Bryant! And he’s getting older and let’s say the truth he can’t resolve it alone in 4th quarter anymore. No more nitro left in the tank!
Lakers bench is in 95% of the games awful (for what this team goals are and expectations). What was Lakers bench production and consistency in last championship year? Remember? What do they have now? Except Hill (which was the only light on that bench) it’s pitch dark there. The only ones that can shoot, they do not hit more often than they do. One great game (by usually only one of them) is followed by a bunch of bad ones. How many times (in last 2 years) they lost or almost lost 15-18 point advantage between 3rd and 4th quarters?
Bottom line: help Bryant with some consistent support on the perimiter. Bring better bench squad. I bet that also Bynum and Gasol will be better because no team will allow themselves to crowd them if you have other 3 outside that can punish you. Once those 2 will not have to constantly battle double and triple teams they will be fresher in 4th quarter and do a lot better.

If there’s one thing I could say about the Lakers exit this season, it would be: Let’s say the Lakers are good but the Thunders are better RIGHT NOW. No blames at all, not even anyone of the LAL boys; Borwn, Pau, Session, Bynum, and never point any fire finger at Black Mamba’s performance this season. He’s got number 3 in of the best players in the league. He’s giving his all on the court, doing all his responsibilities for the team and its fans!

Kobe doesn’t have to take another dribble to secure himself in the top 5 players of all time. Heck, he could’ve retired after 2010, and he still would’ve been a top 5 player of all time. The problem wasn’t just him; the whole Laker team failed, and it’s on them. They need a better bench, a better way to integrate Gasol into the offense, and they need Bynum to be consistently dominant as he as shown in the past. Mike Brown is a good coach, but I think the Triangle suited the Lakers better. Bring the roster from 2009 back, and let’s see what happens (Fisher, Kobe, Ariza, Odom, Pau, Bynum, Farmar, Vujachic, Shannon Brown, Phil Jackson). Even at their current age, that’s still good enough to win a championship. Laker for life. Peace.

If you hate Kobe because he’s great then thats the problem of the haters because w/o any argument is next after MJ!!! Durant may come next after Kobe!!! But he must have to prove something before we will say that h’s next to Kobe.LOL

All of this talk is pointless now. The bottom line is basketball is a team sport and no NBA team has every won a championship with one great player. Even during the Jordan era Bulls, MJ had a great supporting cast.

The Lakers bench is not great (pretty much nonexistent) and the supporting cast did not bring it every night. Kobe tried to do it by himself and came up short. Put Durant on this Lakers team in place of Kobe and I bet the Lakers still don’t win or take away Harden and Westbrook from OKC and I bet they don’t win either. It’s not about one person. It’s a team effort that wins championships.

How many times has Lebron been voted MVP or won the scoring title? How many times was Lebron on a team ranked number one in the east? Now, how many championships does Lebron have? Get it straight people the team gets the championship, not the superstar. Hate on Kobe all you want, the Lakers as a whole failed here.

Here is a simple solution, Kobe Bryant leaves the Lakers and goes to the Clippers. Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, and Deandre Jordan as a line up, if chris paul can’t go to the laker let kobe go to the clippers.

Even if Chris paul went to the lakers I don’t think that the lakers would beat OKC easily

The Lakers clearly have the most talent but did’nt use it right. The coach should not have let Kobe keep jacking up bad shot after bad shot in the 4th quarter of game 4. In game 2 Bynum scored with 2 minutes left to give the lakers a 7 point lead. Bynum and Gasol never got to touch the ball again after that. Kobe just turned it over and took more bad shots. Kobe led the league in Turnovers and he is not even a point guard. Kobe clearly is a step slow and demands the ball too much, ne needs to play within the flow of the team and quit ball hogging.

you guys can argue about it all day long, theres always gonna be new players with new skills and who are better then previous players in the nba! why is everyone trying to have a giant debate about it when its totally random . no one knows whos gonna be great or the best ever

@ILLIUS
”You talking about refs, LOL, love when ppl do that, it looks like they never saw a NBA game before..there are always mistakers, for both sides, it has always been like that.”

YES I am talking about refs, I understand that you Laker fanatics are completely delusional to everything else going on in the game but the 2002 WCF against the Kings was ruined, every sports journalist has said it numerous times, the fbi investigated it, IT HAS BEEN PROVEN, you don’t need to even watch basketball to know that Kobe elbowing Bibby in the face causing him a nosebleed and still not being called a foul is dumb. Lakers shooting 27 freethrows in the 4th quarter alone, and somehow every big man on the Kings team was in foul trouble lol. You guys are so pathetic its just sad. don’t believe true facts just live in your yellow and purple marshmellow world of lakers or nothing.

ILLIUS ”haha, i loled so much with ppl that talk b4 they get their facts right…in that game, he went 6/24, yes, still he was the top scorer on that game”

again look how stupid you sound…. get YOUR facts straight, 6 for 24 and the leading scorer??? ya because he was sent to the freethrow line 15 times, Gasol went there 13 times…… oh and boston? not one player had over 6 freethrow attempts.

PLEASE stop calling people out on their knowledge when you don’t know what you are talking about yourself…”talk b4 they get their facts straight”???? these are not my facts these are THE facts…. real stats don’t lie so stop letting your love for one player blur your vision of what really happened hahaha fools

You all saw what happened kobe went to the bench in the fourth qtr, thats when okc made their run and gained the momentum. By the time kobe came back into the game it was too late. If the lakers hope to make head way next season, they need to get a bench, and get rid of bynum. Im sick of his tantrums! Hes the biggest player in the game and some how only manages to get four boards. If he doesnt get the ball he starts pouting and shows no heart. He’s effort on he court is an embarrasment to the franchise. How long will the lakers baby sit this guy. Trade him for Howard and get some young talent on the bench.

Bynum and Gasol were off their game because they were deferring to Kobe the entire game, because that’s what Kobe does! Bynum was the reason the Lakers defeated the Spurs so soundly by grabbing 30 rebounds! If Kobe would be more of a facilitator instead of a dictator, the Lakers might actually be a dominant team. Thank God, Kobe will never change even as he gets older.

Who cares how many points you score if your team lost the more you shot the worse you were. If you score 40 points but took 45 shots your not helping your team. kobe needs to retire and let the Lakers move on without his sorry old ball hogging ways. The game when Kobe was out the Lakers never looked better beating San Antonio in their own gym. Mike Brown needs to limit Kobes minutes to 25-30 or he has nothing left for the 4th quarter like he did this series.

Our issue is how we bring fairness on the NBA court. The referees are all sell-out. Replace all the referees with Robots. Robots don’t side with any team, people. Fire David Stern and all the referees. Replace the referees with ROBOTS. Robots can do fairly compared to these referees!!!!

Our issue is how we bring fairness on the NBA court. The referees are all sell-out. Replace all the referees with Robots. Robots don’t side with any team, people. Fire David Stern and all the referees. Replace the referees with ROBOTS. Robots can do fairly compared to these referees!!!!

The Laker problem is KOBE… He blew game 2 with turnover in the last 2 minutes and kepts jacking up bad shots. In game 4 Kobe was 2-10 in the 4th quarter. The Lakers had a 13 point lead with 8 minutes left and Kobe took 10 very bad percentage shots in the 4th quarter intead of giving the ball to Bynum who can get an easy shot anytime he wants. Pure and simple Kobe is a ball hog and it hurts the team. The Lakers are the last team to beat San Antonio and they did it WITHOUT Kobe. Kobe is the problem he just takes too many bad shots.

you think this is a plus one for Shaq? do you really know what this means? LOL. It’s was a defensive startegy to force Shaq to the foul line because he can’t make FTs. Hack-a-mamba will never really happen.. very funny.. educate yourself first before you post here..

Yes actually it is a plus one for Shaq, Why would coaches and teams implement an entire defensive strategy against one specific player? ummmmm BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT STOP SHAQ unless they put him on the free throw line which was his weakness. you obviously took it way to literal because ur hurt and i understand this, but my point was that Shaq was the focal point. So stop trying to be smart and go educate yourself haha. NEXT!!!!!!!

Nobody seems to understand the point…. ofcourse what can we expect from a bunch of Kobe fans. Everybody that agrees with what I have said and what I am saying is…. YOU ARE THE PEOPLE CLAIMING KOBE CAN DO IT ALLLLLLLL, I am saying he cannot and proving it… nobody said JORDAN OR SHAQ OR ANY OF THOSE GUYS CAN DO IT BY THEMSELVES, you are just hurt because you know what you are saying is wrong. If Kobe wins he is GOD and he did iT, HE did it, he loses and its everybody elses fault. to understand why kobe gets so much criticism you need to undertand that it is all because of every one of you wack fanboys that praise him to the heavens. Don’t brag so much when he does something and ppl won’t come out and prove you wrong when he fails and the truth prevails hahahaha. now go get a tissue and a fishing rod because the season is over for your squad and because most of you are strictly kobe fans you will probably not even watch the best basketball of the year coming up in the western conference finals.

Kobe takes way way to many shoots.. most of the time we see his teammates standing wide open waiting around as he looks for his shots, so that to me is not a great player, of course you gonna end up with more than 25 points if you take that many shoots. on game 2 and 3 he made 9 out of 25, on game 4 12 out of 28 and on game 5 18 out of 33. is ok if they dont win he will find his scapegoats! im just saying>

Have you guys watched this series? Aside from game one, ALL others were close games.
Kobe is old done whatever haters say, and still drops 42 on a team with allstar players half his age.
The truth is, where were his teammates???
Because Kobe is a proven winner and NEVER quits.
BTW Durant is the real deal.

This was the result we all knew was going to have this series, first as background players Ibaka, Perkins and even Collinson would make a difference against two players first decentralized, loose second, third and finally uncompromising in pean conditions. Hence part of this series and was just as dominate it,i could not talk about durant or Westbrok because it would be a bit more of the same, but if James Harden could say wow, that excellence, great player and certainly the work of fisher to exhaust his defense and pressure to the players of los angeles lakers, while the protagonists of the thunders taking minutes of rest.
I believe Mike Brown has been lucky to have the good fortune to run two senior teams but superstar players that do not give you the final results being a selfish untalented as manager on the bench, broken only seven or eight players taking the bench players like troy Murphy, josh McRoberts which could deplete the defense in the area that is open and able to play freely then stars, matt barnes was not even included in the series as it should be that a player of a outstanding defense, only a few minutes played this in each of the parties …
I said a year ago, the magics had serious problems, but was in general management and their coach. Same with the Lakers the manager and coach have to fire them, not serve both arrogant and authoritarian, without good management and high standard are unable to accept their mistakes.

I am a KB24 fan. I still believe to the team.
Games 2 and 4 could have go Lakers WIN.

I also agree with Kenny Smith, the team doesn’t fit well enough to play Offensive strategy of Mike Brown.
They are used to Triangle Offense, and changes made the plays more inconsistent. Entire off-season we can adapt!

But of course if we have to make changes, yes its better now at least we still have KB24 to be threat and decoy for other players to score.

it’s easy now OKC fans trash the lakers, 2010 we beat the OKC, we went back to back championships. Again Kobe haters just point out the bad shooting but he did have 15 rebounds in game 7 if your team misses shots, you get a rebound, you get another chance at scoring obviously OKC fans are plain stupid or really plain hating on kobe. Kobe has earn 5 rings. He carried his team on his back when shaq couldnt. He made big shots when shaq couldn’t. I will find it funny if the lakers will be rebuilt again, then every one will be hating on the lakers even if they are wining titles again. HATERs ALWAYS GOING TO HATE REGARDLESS. LAKerS FOr liFE!!! westbrook over C paul? ahaha OKC fans are stupid, that’s like me saying Bynum over howard which makes no sense at all Because bynum plays good some games and other dont show up. Westbrook is good but durant is the franchise player, the player to go to. C paul is a franchise player. OKc fans are like old cavs fans. They hype up their player or their legacy to a 2 levels or 3. Some one put westbrook top of over every one else with rose? ahhaha. What was westbrook last year? oh i see, he has 1 good year then every one thinks he is the best PG or second PG Hilarious.

i feel bad for the lakers when kobe bryant retires because i don’t think the lakers are ever going to have another superstar like kobe bryant again, at least not for a long time, and the lakers will no longer be a threat when he retires, thats the only reason the lakers every year have a shot of making the playoffs, is because of kobe, but laker fans, you should be be proud and enjoy the ride while it last because you got miami and okc who got youngins in thier team and are hungry for an nba title!!

Shaq would have delivered many championships, as he did for the Lakers, to any team he played for in the early 2000’s. Kobe simply was fortunate to have Shaq on his team. Not the other way around.
Heck, had Shaq played for the Raptors with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, the Raptors would have won several championships – not the Lakers.

Have you looked at the other people on the Raptors roster? Look at who the Lakers had. If it weren’t for Horry, Fisher, Fox, Shaw. Lakers wouldn’t have won. I bet the Raptors would have cleared their whole bench to have at least 2 of those people on their team.

MAN LISTEN….stop with the Bulls Lakers comparison..MJ took some pretty average teams ( MINUS pippen dude is so underrated it hurts) to the finals and WON…there is nothing to compare between MJ and Kobe…he just can’t do it like him… People who only watch the Lakers and were born in the 95 will foever try to hype Kobe on the same plane or even say the “closest to him”..Stop. it’s not true….I mean forreal..it’s like saying Paul was the closest thing to being to Jesus ( not being Sacrieliege, just making a point, seriously i don’t play that lol) It is NOT a true statement. Even if there is to EVER be another talent as great as MJ, i just don’t hink it’s Kobe..I DON’T! Kobe is still top 5 though..Still a beast.

Face it Lakers, you are going back to that lottery/just made the plaoffs limbo like in the mid 90’s.

You have bad contracts for the next 2 season, old players and you arent going to be able to buy your way out of it or convince players to come to LA.
Dwight will stay on Orlando, Dwill wont go to LA, No more major free agaents to lure in.
Playrs are going to want to go to Clippers, Mavs, Heat, NY and OKC.
LA wont have that draw anymore.

It’s amazing what a difference 1 year will make. Last year the Dallas Mavericks took advantage of the inexperienced OKC and now the Thunder just trounced both them and the Lakers. Although they did it in only 9 games I guess you could say that both series could have been a lot closer but the Thunder’s transformation over the past year is still unbelievable. The Thunder are just better in the end than the Lakers.

I am a die hard Laker fan. But watching these games, I have come to the conclusion finally after many years, and not wanting to admit it, that the problem with the Lakers is that Kobe wants to be,and always will be the main character in the line up, and he feels he can do no wrong. What funny is that, when Kobe is hurt and out of a few games, the Lakers look like a team, with great ball movement and rotation, and the offense is not stagnated. When Kobe is in the game, the offense is Kobe, and everyone else just watches and waits to see what he is going to do. It is unfortunate that is is that way, and I blame that on the coach for allowing him to have his way. The stats show, that when Kobe shoots more that 25 times a game, the Lakers lose the majority of those games, because no one else is involved. I will continues to be a Lakers fan, but the truth is the truth, and I must say that I enjoyed the Clippers season way more than the Lakers. Now on to the rest of the NBA championship series.

Lakers really had no chance to take over against this OKC team. There’s been too much bad moves from the management and what was a championship caliber team became another ordinary team with one good player and a lot of inconstitent talents. But it’s also unfair for YOU HATERS to start blaming it on Kobe. You people just don’t know why fans respect this number 24 man. For me, it’s full respect to this guy becuz he didn’t came into this league with all the hype that comes with this last decade’s number one draft picks (remember he was drafted at the 13th spot). So to say he wasn’t expected to lead or becoming any leader of a championship team. But HE DID it. Yes he did so and no matter how many finals he’s played and how many rings he has he’s did it while some first picks over hyped players have struggled (and are still doing ie James) to get just one: Look at KG! And others are making “decisions” in order to give themselves one chance at having a ring…follow my look. So I think some people round here just need to back up off Kobe and stop hating. This is sports and you gotta give credit anytime some guys plays this game with heart. period.

Kobe’s not overrated. That’s why he’s only won one regular season MVP and only two NBA finals MVPs. Not even close to greats of the past or present (Lebron three regular season MVPs).

The two players that can be compared or mentioned in the same light as MJ, since he’s retired, in my opinion, are Lebron James and Kevin Durant.

Kobe can be compared to the likes of an Allen Iverson. If Iverson had Shaq in Philly, he would have had three NBA championships or more. Iverson isn’t considered an all-time great because of his lack of championships, which is a shame.

In summary, Kobe is in the same category as an Allen Iverson; not MJ. Lebron James and Kevin Durant are very close to being in the same category as the all-time greats like MJ, Magic, and Larry Bird.

Sekou, Again you miss a few key things no preseason no practice new coach new players. Odom was lost in that nixed trade too. And no his mental state would have been different not the train wreck Dallas got. Brown did not have any time to get to know his players. Be honest with yourself what other team with these deep rooted changes accomplished anything this year? The ending may have been the same but this by far a different book then LAL showed last year maybe they would not have made it in a regular season anyway, but if you could actually call that you would be more than a just a reporter anyway wouldn’t you.

Don’t be fooled by your emotion’s this is a entertainment business if Lakers really want to be a Champion they can do that but its the NBA organization that decide who’s going to win based on the TV ratings they need a new team to risen so that it gain more Fans and endorsement from the sponsor…….If you really are a NBA fan and watch the game frequently you can almost predict who is going to win(the way they play ….most in the 1st quarter) ….You can’t let the Lakers win every season people will loss the enthusiasm to watch the game…..Now they all have the reason to get D.howard to spice -up the game next season they need more rumors to gain more ….

First to all the Fakers fans-
Karma for having the 2 dirtiest players (Bynum+Artest)
the 2 most overrated players (Kobe+Pau)
And congrats to the Thunder!
(Who have the best fans in sports btw.)
The young big 3 vs. the Veteran big 3 will be a treat to watch for sure.

I seen a interview in the last week with kobe and stephan a smith, and what kobe said about retiring was that if he was avg 17 pts he would not stick around to play the game anymore, he would not be one of those players, well the more i think about it when the lakers played there best in game 7 veruses the nuggets kobe had 17 points, and played with in the flow of the game, kobe needs to take less shots and not have tunnel vision all the time he gets the ball, and stop being a ball stopper, the more his teammates get there hands on the ball the more chances they have of getting in to a flow of the game, kobe is a pure score but needs to be more of a player who sets others up, and playing inside to the post and then out is what the lakers need.

I think LAL made a mistake on changing Coach and not choosing the right coach for this team. They were built for the triangle offense. they they stopped using it. LAL is still a threat with their talent and players, but without the proper coach, they will not go over the hump. Scott brooks out-coached mike brown.

I’m afraid that Kenny was right … Buss and Kupchak did not ask Kobe if Brown is a good fit … After awhile they didn’t ask Brown what he needs in order to improve the team (remember Brown’s comments “I believe in Buss and Kupchak … they know what they are doing … i’ll let they do their work …” My point is that Brown should be the one who know what kind of player the team needs, not Buss, not Kupchak … This ties to Kenny’s comment that they do not have system yet they trust/respect, nor they know what they need (players) in order to improve … It will take them awhile to figure out, and i’m afraid that Kobe doesn’t have much time … I’m Lakers fan, but Thunder got my respect … I can’t wait to see how they fare with Spurs … It will be a hell of a series …

hey OKC212 remember that OKC will gone fishin’ soon. shut up your big mouth men! OKC is not the best team in the NBA. ( but they have the most ballhog men in the league ) Kobe Bryant is the closest to the level of MJ no doubt. we all know that Kobe ( in his age ) is better than KD. Maybe Kobe needs a backup teammate that can dominate when his resting.

Hilarious, a Laker fan calling someone other than Kobe a ball hog. quit crying because you got dominated and accept the loss like a Laker, oh wait they cry and try to injure people when they lose thats right, you are right on course man.

Lakers went away from what got them points in the last quarter. They suddenly refused to throw the ball into the post. Wasn’t Gasol’s or Bynam’s fault they didn’t touch the ball. Kobe was too busy trying to save the day all by himself to realize that they were only ahead when they went inside, so he kept putting up bricks. Hope they all see the whole picture next year. As for the coach, why didn’t he see it ???

Mike brown is not a good coach. He is a terrible coach and I give him 50% of the blame for how the lakers performed
1. He is a good D coach but a terrible O coach
2. He cannot manage players and demands know respect from them
3. His control of the game is awful. (between the use of timeouts in bad situations and substitutions)

Scott brooks out coached him by a mile. Brooks starts his big 3 in the 4th and sits kobe while OKC goes on 8-0 run in a matter of 2 min and still has him sitting. Why didn’t matt barnes play last night? great defender and great energy guy.
why does steve blake play so much? Sessions had a lot better series against OKC than Denver. Its also worth noting that giving Odom away for nothing was not a good move.

The laker’s decision makers screwed the players from the get go with hiring brown. They should have give Shaw the job and if not him then Adelman should have gotten it. LBJ should have a ring or two by now but brown screwed him as well. I look forward to the off season and see what the lakers do now.

Bynum for Howard
Pau for as many young guns you can get
try and get odom back once they can resign him

Kobe is old, thats why he was sitting early 4th quarter. Barnes hasn’t show any efficient during the series with OKC, thats why he wasn’t playing. Session was in foul trouble and struggling a lot. Blake actually doing pretty well except on screens (I don’t know why Perkins always get away with moving screens).

I definitely agree to going back to triangle offense, but they need younger legs in PG and consistent bench players. They should trade Bynum for Howard and Pau for some good bench players.

All I see here are nothing but haters. Regardless of what people say Kobe is still Kobe. I don’t see anyone in the League getting closed to what he has accomplished as an NBA Basketball Player. Is true that Kobe has some moves that pertain to Michael Jordan, but who wouldn’t? We all grew up watching Michael Jordan play. For this purpose, is possible that most Basketball Players picked up a thing or two from him as well. People gotta truly stop hating on Kobe Bryant. Just because a person plays like Jordan doesn’t mean he is bound to receive as many accomplishments as he did, but if you asked me Kobe Bryant was extremely close and did an excellent job at it. That is more than you could say about other Basketball players in the league right now. Therefore, no one other then Kobe Bryant aka “The Black mamba” deserves the comparison with the great Legend of all times Michael Jordan.

2012-2013 Lakers Roster. Its a longshot but its possible. It may have some flaws in it, but this is what Mitch Kupchak could do next season. Some of these, are salaries I made up and some are already guaranteed for next year i.e. Josh McRoberts. Let me know what you think

1. Lakers aren’t gonna resign Matt Barnes next season. Sorry. I love the guy and his hustle. But he’s not getting resigned.
2. You’re not doing anything better with this team. You’re putting more age on this team. Nash is going 39, Odom is 33, Allen is 35, Wallace is 32, Matt Barnes is 32, World Peace is 33. You’re going to have to just replace them in a year and the point guard issue will once again be addressed. Not to mention Nash is a huge liability on defense.
3. Why do we need 3 shooting guards and 3 point guards and 3 power forwards? We have no one to back up Bynum at center?
This roster looks completely retarded.
If anything landing Deron Williams is almost a must. But I doubt its going to happen because he’s either going to go to Dallas or Orlando. Only way we’ll get him is through a sign and trade for either a package deal with Gasol and someone else or Bynum. Which leads us to the “not trading a big for a small” rule (for Bynum at least. I wouldn’t mind trading Gasol for him because Jordan Hill and fit in the 4 spot nicely has an athletic rebounder.)
4. You’d be foolish if Odom is going to take 3 million and Allen 5 million. Clippers and Pacers will have plenty to offer those two in the offseason seeing that Clippers need a guy like Allen with veteran leadership to back up the young team.

Well of course you don’t have to agree, but this team would definitely be a contender, and every team would have to watch out for them. Lakers are not going to re-build we are not patient enough for that. We want to win now. The squad may be old but it would win. Our bench almost has another 5 that could start in the NBA. Thanks for your comments though

I am Kobe fan. But this series showed me that Kobe has become older and not as effective, BUT… the determination never disappears. How can you win if the other 2 main guys don’t want to be dominant (as they can and should have been). They simply didn’t want to win. So i say, GET RID OF THEM BOTH. Find somebody who wants to win badly, f.e. Howard. Trade them both for Howard, and bring back L.O, to play at 4 or get some young PF who plays with desire. I don’t see the Lakers wining with the ”Twin towers” at least if they are playing like this.

For those who hates Kobe, come on. Yes it was shaq who’s the center piece of the first 3 championship but come to think of it, can they win it without kobe? It’s like saying that the Bulls can 3peat without Pippen or Rodman during that era.

Basketball is a collective or team effort game. It’s not an individual game. Let’s give credit where the credit is due. Shaq can’t 3peat without Kobe, Horry, Fisher… and vice versa.

The lakers battled but its clear where their problems are at. The production from their big men are completely inconsistent. Bynum can be an absolute monster one night and a complete flop the next night. He’s too immature and too raw to have the game go through him consistently, which is what the lakers need. Gasol can completely disappear from the floor. He’s been in this league long enough to know he has to go out there and play EVERY night. Not just the nights after Kobe gives him a spanking. Their guard play off the bench is WEAK. Barnes was invisible, Blake had his moments, but inconsistent. Ebanks was better for his team sitting on the bench. This team is too old and too slow to keep up with fast paced teams like OKC. Kobe can easily go off for 40 even at this age, but thats not enough when teams are going off for 100+ on them.
Get rid of one of the big men, bring in steve nash, sign some consistent shooters to come off the bench.

Damn what is with these people who comment here just to bag on kobe, i mean come on guys cut the guy some slack he’s the only reason the lakers even got to the 2nd round. as for the lakers future i think they should definitely trade pau or bynum and get b shaw as the head coach, he knows the triangle and kobe trusts him plus the lakers know his style as it is pretty much the same as phil’s style. and as always they desperately need a pg and get themselves a back up wing player. maybe nash could help them out, yeah he’s not young but he’s still very fast and a true point guard

Mitch, Mike, and all the Lakers Squad (except KOBE) are nothing but a bunch of LOSERS! DERRICK FISHER got the last word moving-on to advance w/the better team into the conference finals. Along w/ LAMAR ODOM, who will also be laughing at the LOS ANGELES “LOSERS” who foolishly bargained away a championship squad ending up w/nothing but a “CLIPPED” goal basketball net SWEPT BACK UNDERNEATH THE COURT MUCH-LIKE LA’S OTHER BB TEAM. WOW….R U KIDDING YOURSELVES: RAMON SESSIONS???? WHO D’UH HELL IS THIS GUY, ANY!?!?! OH-YEAH; A LOSER…(LOL)! IF MIKE BROWN RETURNS NXT SEASON, JERRY WEST SHOULD SERIOUSLY CONSIDER REPLACING MITCH KUPCHEK. IF HE DOESN’T THEN KOBE SHOULD SERIOUSLY CONSIDER MOVING TO MIAMI VERY SOON. OR I, AND MUCH OF L.A. WILL NOT BE SUPPORTING MIKE AND THE LAKERS NXT SEASON. MIKE BROWN IS DEFINITELY NOT A CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE COACH. HE IS CERTAINLY NOT “PHIL JACKSON” MATERIAL. AND MOST-LIKELY WILL NEVER BE A TRUE CHAMPION COACH. KOBE HAS FIVE TITLES W/ THIS ORGANIZATION AND MIKE HAS “ZERO” AS A HEAD COACH. AND HE’S LEADING THE LAKERS TO A TITLE THIS YEAR????? “(LAUGHING-OUT-LOUD)”

Phil Jackson is great.. But it helps when you have Rodman, Jordan, Pippen and some excellent role players on your team. it also helps having a peaking Shaq ith Kobe and excellent role players on your team.

Last year, WITH JACKSON, the Lakers got smashed 0-4 by the Mavericks.. what could Jackson do then?? Retire.

He traded away Odom, Shannon, Fisher, Ariza… these guys are excellent players in the last 5 minutes.. please the team they have now is garbage bar gasol and Kobe.

Grow up. Dont even think about calling yourself a lakers fan, you’re a front running joke. Support your team through thick and thin you tool. Quit making excuses for mediocre play and look forward to next season.

Typing in all caps doesn’t make you any more right. Also, the reason you won’t support L.A. is because you’re a spoiled little brat just like 95% of the Lakers fan base. That’s perfectly fine, You can go ahead and support whoever you choose. L.A. doesn’t want your support, nor do they need it.

But Parker can and (maybe) will outplay Westbrook next series. He outplayed CP3 already (and him being a little hurt did not change nothing)….

2nd: I deeply think that the Lakers lost, not only because of Bynum & Gasol, but because of Bryant too. I said BEFORE THE START OF THE SERIES, that if Kobe will go to score 32/35 to 40, it will be the end for the Lakers. It’s what happened!

Thats the same thing i said….if kobe takes more than 25 or 30 shots, the lakers will lost. Their never good when kobe is the scoring the most on the offense….they needed to feed the post more and play a inside outside game

@ OKC2012…You are right man, Kobe is just a good scorer, nothing else. 25 ppg average carrier and playoff, says everything. There are hundreds better players than him in NBA history. Claiming that he is the best ever, looks pretty sick to me

He can’t motivate Bynum and Gasol, not even their coaches (Brown and Phil) can. You can’t win a game by yourself, its a team game. Kobe show up at the game and play his heart out and proved that despite his age and injuries he can play well against this young and healthy OKC.

No need to name, there is plenty of them, even today you have at least 10 – 165 players better than Kobe. He is destructive for his team, when he takes 30 shots and score 40 points, it means that Lakers are loosing for sure, like last night 16 points – blow up man. He does not understand the game. As I said, he is just good scorer and that is it

BTW stop all the Jordan comparisons, Jordan legacy was not just about the stats, awards, and Rings. He completely changed the game of basketball into what we know it to be today. Kobe is a student of Jordan, everything Kobe does from his fadaway jumper to the way he chews his gum comes from what he saw Jordan do. Jordan changed everything from the way players dressed on the court to the high flying acrobatic game that it is today. MJ never needed the the most DOMINATE player of his era to be on his team like Kobe did (Shaq), because Jordan WAS the MOST DOMINATE player of HIS ERA. He created Chicago’s legacy, Kobe followed along on a team that has had a ridiculously legendary history, a team that HAS to win or is trashed by a harsh media and considered a failure. Kobe was the Robin on those Shaq teams like Pippen was the Robin to those Jordan teams, both had envy but Pippen did not go crazy with public whining like Kobe did. Even in that last championship against Boston, Kobe does not win without Gasol having a great series. I will give Kobe his props, he has done amazing things and will always be known as one of the best, but honestly too many of you ”fans” are Kobe fans and not basketball fans, if you were truly a fan of the game you would be able to admit these facts to yourself.

Man todays stars are garbage compared to Jordan and the stars of the 90s..

Todays best players, LeBron, Wade, Kobe etc.. All choke every second game. Atheltically there awesome and do flashy dunks.. but the speed the old teams moved at, the discipline they had on shooting percentages.. the difficulty with the hand check rule, and the fact that jordan nailed 50% of his shots with a fouling triple team.. attests to what I am saying.

Todays players Like LeBron, cant finish in a 4th quarter.. liek really I have watched 100 games with him and maybe 1 in 5 he comes through.. and thats the best we have right now. The 90s teams would smash these guys.

OKC you make a great statement and that is “too many fans are Kobe fans and not basketball fans” It’s true because even know the Laker fans bash the team and not Kobe. They failed as a team and all share the loss.

The whole Jordan Kobe thing is gonna have to die out after this year because Kobe hasn’t come close to Jordan’s greatness. Just because he has five rings doens’t put him next to Jordan. Kobe Bryant = great player with a great legacy but that of his own and not one that will EVER rival Jordan’s.

Man,calm down a little.Kobe´s a fantastic player,and has been the best player by far in their last two championships. I agree that Shaq was fundamental in the first three titles,but he was as good as Kobe,not the best player by far. Kobe´s done a lot for L.A. and carried a terrible team for years after Shaq left,and he should have won at least one more MVP title, averaging more than 30 points in the season,and scoring 81 points against Toronto.And there´s no player in this league more identified with the franchise,than Bryant and the Lakers.They lost once again in this semifinals,but you can´t blame the guy,he scored 36,38 and 42 in the final games,and his team managed to lose two of those.But all of that is just part of it,the capability of closing games,and making tough and big shots,and the mental strenght to keep his focus,even when his team looks defeated, those are the the qualities that make people comparing him to Jordan,because that´s the kind of skill that´s hard to find,even in talented players.

I agree mostly with what you said. But honestly, some of that stuff, Kobe couldn’t help. It was fate, chance, whatever you want to call it. How could he help getting traded to the Lakers by the Hornets? Did he demand to be traded to a team with such a long history of winning? Who’s to say that if he was allowed to develop in an unproven team, he couldn’t have brought them a championship. Are you saying that he should’ve demanded to be traded from the Lakers because it was too prestigious and if he wanted to be taken seriously, he had to win it all with a previously unknown team? Because that’d be a pretty stupid decision. What if Jordan had been taken by the Lakers in his era after Johnson retired? Do you think he would’ve demanded to be traded from the Lakers? How could Kobe help the fact that the team he was traded to also acquired Shaq, the most dominant player of the time on his team in his prime? What role would JOrdan have played if he were in the same situation? How would his development change? Would he not have to play second fiddle too? if they won a champiionship, whou do you think woudl’ve gotten the MVP award? How could Kobe differentiate himself more and become “Batman” instead of “Robin” with Shaq in his prime and playing his basketball. Are you saying that a 26 year old Jordan, if he had won a championship with Shaq, after playing under him for 4 yeas since he joined the NBA, would’ve been the go to guy, and not the wing man? Are you saying that a Jordan in his 4th year in the NBA wouldwin that MVP award. Because I don’t think so, as great as Jordan was. Bottom line is that Kobe couldn’t help the fact that Shaq was on his team as a dominant player in his prime while Kobe himself was still a rookie and he couldn’t help the fact that he was traded to a team with such a long history of winning. I agree with what you say, but I don’t believe the facts that you listed should detract from Kobe because it was luck/chance that all the things happened the way they did, with both Kobe and Jordan.

Before every fanboy come in with Kobe and his 5 rings, real people know the true story and the real facts.

Kobe’s first 3 Rings came only with the help of Shaq who was the most dominate player in the NBA, remember it was hack a shaq not hack a mamba. All 3 finals mvp’s went to shaq and he was the deciding factor in all of their finals series together (vs pacers, Philly, Nets) none of those teams could guard shaq where as without him, the games would have been much more even because those 3 teams had a star player of their own. BTW remember this is at a time when the western conference was wayyy better than the east, those finals were no competition. East steps it up and detroit takes over handing lakers a loss in the finals.

He cried to get rid of shaq, the Lakers had a few bad seasons with Kobe alone, he cried again for a trade, lakers come back with the pau gasol trade and its back to championship form for L.A. They then lose to the newly built Celtics, next finals they beat the lowly one man show of Dwight Howard and Orlando. after this they beat the celtics in game 7 for kobe’s 5th ring.

It took him to play in 6 NBA FINALS to finally get his first finals MVP and this somehow leads you to believe he was that main guy lol. Im gonna get soo hated on that i’m going to just put the truthful controversies out there too.

Throughout their ”era” it has been proven that there was a little bit of a reffing scandal in the NBA. their first title the Lakers had a huge comeback in the final quarter of the final game of the WCF against Portland, take it as u may but it was fishy, either way fine give them props.

Their 3rd title was completely marred, it has been proven they should not have been in the finals because their WCF series against the Kings should have ended in the 6th game and the Kings should have went to the finals where they would have beaten the Nets. This game has BEEN proven to be ruined by reffing on purpose so don’t even try, go watch it if you want.

Now their final title against Boston, again another game 7 down by about 15 in the 4th quarter, your man kobe shoots 6-24 and somehow they win it against a great Celtics team…… I feel there was some bad calls leading to this win, but hey even if there was not, Kobe does not go 6-24 and win that game, the rest of the team won it for him.

So all in all the man of amazing talents and crazy individual stats is just not the championship hero you claim him to be…. he does have rings but please just never say HE did it, because its just not true, not by himself.

The fact that you’re trying this hard to somehow persuade people that Kobe isn’t a great player is pretty funny. You really put a lot of effort into that, and still nobody will be moved by what you’re saying. Anyone who actually watched those games/series knows what a big role Kobe played. And to say that Kobe didn’t win a ring by himself just proves that you don’t have a clue man. Not a single player in league history could do it by themselves. I don’t care who they are, they ALL needed help. Nice try though.

you think this is a plus one for Shaq? do you really know what this means? LOL. It’s was a defensive startegy to force Shaq to the foul line because he can’t make FTs. Hack-a-mamba will never really happen.. very funny.. educate yourself first before you post here..

I hear what you’re saying and mostly agree. The facts about Bryant are often clouded behind the five rings he got . I will say that without Kobe none of those five championships could have happened, but in the last two they had I feel Gasol got robbed of one finals MVP.

Anyhow no matter what you say or prove, people will have Kobe going down in history as the 2nd greatest player ever, and I still for the life of me don’t see how he is.

what a moron…Kobe was in his 4th year when they won the first championship together shaq was a superstar….of course it went to the more veteran player…and 2nd without kobe those championships wouldnt count…without derek fisher there wouldnt be 3 peat…without horry there wont be 3 peat…they all made great shots that decided series…
no the fact here is that ur just a kobe hater..and most likely on that heat bandwagon riding to nowhere

Kobe was only in his early 20s when he won the rings with Shaq, of course the finals MVP would go to Shaq, he was at the peek of his career. Nobody,dont matter how good the are, nobody win a mvp championship alone. Kobe was the wing man on his first 2 rings, but there is no doubt that he was the leader on the last 2 rings, of course, with the help of his teammates.
You talking about refs, LOL, love when ppl do that, it looks like they never saw a NBA game before..there are always mistakers, for both sides, it has always been like that.
I laugh on Kobe s haters, that wont admit the great player that he is..yes, he may have done some mistakes on his early years, but he is still one of the best.

Garen and Ilius are the morons! Rationalizing that Shaq got MVP because he was a veteran and Kobe was a 4th year player. What kind of Laker fans are you? Magic won Finals MVP when he was a rookie and Kareem was a superstar veteran center. Shaq was Finals MVP in all those 3 championships because he was the one player most responsible for the wins. Kobe was 2nd most important but a similar player at that time would have done as good. No one was like Shaq. Kobe was along for the ride.

haha, i loled so much with ppl that talk b4 they get their facts right…in that game, he went 6/24, yes, still he was the top scorer on that game, in a night that everybody struggled, and added 15 rebounds to the Lakers…and btw, the mvp finals award isnt awarded based only on game 7 performances…

Not to mention 37ft attempts for LA vs 17 for the C’s. 18 of those FTs came in the 4th and the Celtics got 6 attempts. I remember that game and the Celtics attacked the basket but couldn’t get a call if they owned AT&T.

Shaq didn’t win a championship in Orlando and can’t do it on his own. He won a championship in Miami because he got a young talent in DWade.

This is a team effort and a team game. No one can ever win by themselves without any kind of help, either the coach, role players and another superstar. Even MJ without Pippen would probably can’t win championship, just like when he went to Wizards.

Kobe would definitely need help to win it, with his age and injuries, Kobe actually really good competing with the younger and healthier OKC. Unfortunately his other stars can not be motivated by Kobe, GM, or even coaches (Brown and Phil).

And could you tell everybody who has done it all by himself since you say Kobe didn’t? Jordan had Pippen and a good team, Duncan had David robinson, Parker, Ginobli, Detroit had The Bad Boys earlier then Billups, R. Wallace, B.wallace, Hamilton, Old lakers had Kareem, Magic and good team, Boston had Garnett, Allen Pierce, Rondo. You pick the team that has won it by themselves. Look at the favorites now. Lebron, Wade and Bosh, Durant, Harden, and Westbrook, Duncan Ginobli and Parker Garnett, Allen Rondo and Pierce. Don’t hate on Kobe and the Lakers for building CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS. KOBE AND THE LAKERS ARE NOT DONE YET!

No one player wins games let alone championships all by himself. Players can lose games (maybe even championships) by himself, though. A guy who takes the most shots and misses with the highest frequency is indubitably most responsible for losing close games. Guess who is “poster boy” for that.

Last time I checked there are five players on court and another 5-7 on the bench. No one wins games by themselves retard, Jordan had Pippen, Harper, Rodman, Longley, Grant all of who made a huge difference to him winning titles. Without Kobe Shaq maybe would not have won, ever think of that?? He was unsucessful at Orlando and it took him three seasons at LA to win and was only wheen Kobe was established he could finally get his rings… But not by himself

This isn’t a typo. The truth is Kobe’s value to the Lakers is equal to what Jordan’s value was to the Bulls. Correct? That’s not debatable right? But my main argument is that Kobe Bryant ranks ahead of Michael Jordan because of his five championships. What’s that? Five beats six? True… but Michael Jordan never won a championship without Scottie Pippen. Kobe Bryant has won two without Shaquille O’Neal and can POTENTIALLY win even more. What’s most intriguing about Kobe Bryant’s career is that if he remains healthy, he can realistically play for 3 to 4 more years. What will his statistics look like after that? He doesn’t just land ahead of Jordan simply on potential either. He is already at number at No. 5 scoring leader of all time, with SHAQ behind him! He also ranks ahead for his drive and desire. What’s that? Nobody had more desire than Jordan? But I don’t remember Kobe retiring in the middle of his prime or retiring earlier than he needed to. That’s because Kobe would NEVER consider that. His drive and desire are insatiable. Kobe played even when he was on trial for rape. With his freedom on the line! When it’s all said and done I predict Kobe’s stats will be superior to Jordan’s. But IF he retired today, it would STILL be hard to argue not having Kobe ahead of Jordan. Based on that he ranks ahead of Jordan. Here are some of Kobe’s stats at the time of this publication. 5 time NBA champion, 2 time NBA Finals MVP, 14 time all-star, 2 time NBA scoring champion ( make three if he did not sit on a game against sacramento?). 9 time all-defensive first team, 4 time NBA all-star game MVP and a lot more. KOBE will still be KOBE for 3-4 years…

Most ridiculus comment Ive read!
Michael is better in almost every statistic…check his finals stats to Kobes…way better! Thats not a discussion! Kobe is good, but Michael is better. Solely in stats MJ is leading in every category but FT% and 3point%, let alone all the accolades. Check your stats to see whos better!
If thats not enough, search your feelings Numed!

Been a spurs fan since 1989, but more a bball fan so felt I had to comment.

Please you can not seriously say that Kobe is better than MJ nor that he is number 2 all time, there are so many better players from times gone by that had greater impacts on their teams and the league. Magic, Bird, Chamberlin the list goes on.

All teams that win a championship are “teams” there is always a support cast and generally 2 all stars.

Comparing raw numbers between Jordan and Kobe doesn’t work because Jordan retired 3 times, can you imagine what his stats would have looked like without taking time off to try baseball let alone another couple of years after the second 3 peat? and why did Jordan retire the first time oh thats right he wanted to honor his murdered fathers dream for him? now that is drive and desire al rolled up into one.

There is a case to be made that without the break in the middle the Bulls were good enough to win 8 straight titles -( ledgendary stuff like the old celts) and yes I know we will never know.

every team that won a championship in the nba had a supporting cast. Michael jordan had scottie pippen, dennis rodman and steve kerr. San Antonio had david robinson, tim duncan and others. So the fact that you saying kobe isnt a good player is the stupidest thing ive every heard he will always be one of the best players in nba history with jordan, chamberlain, magic, kareem and others. he’ll be in top 10 best players.

The Lakers franchise (including Kobe) need to come to terms with the fact that they will not be able to advance any further in the playoffs with Bryant as their centerpiece. They need to find a young talented center to build around, and if Kobe is willing to play second fiddle he might just get one more ring before he retires.

For now we should all be looking forward to an exciting western conference finals… may the best team win!

Why no mention of either Serge Ibaka or James Harden in this article? I doubt I’m the only OKC native tired of how seldom they get any publicity. No disrespect to Durant or Westbrook in saying that they are not the only good players on the Thunder roster even if they do draw almost all of the attention from non-Oklahoma based media.

bull, the only reason the Knicks (what 7th seed?) had such a decrease in their numbers in terms of defense was once D’antoni left Mike woodson stepped in and played with a control the clock grind it our game, where as D’antoni played uptempo, the more posessions the better. by slowing the game down you get less possessions which = less points. Now look at how Ibaka just dominated Gasol. We havent seen shot blocking numbers like Ibaka since Theo Ratliff, and that is just BPG not even Blocks Per 48 minutes. Ibaka was robbed 2 timesi n the last 2 years, 1st robbery was the slam dunk conteast where Blake the Fake jumped over the HOOD of a KIa, ibaka only jumped from behind the free throw line lol. anywho he was also robbed of DPOY. Where are the Knicks at with that crazy good defense?

If you look at Tyson’s number of what he did to every single team, he brought last place defensive teams into the top 5, EVERYWHERE HE WENT. Charlotte Dallas and even NY. Y’kno, there IS more ball than YOUR team….

1. Kobe can still play and will for a few more years and still be top 5 in the league easily
2. All out there who say that LAL has the best big man combo in the league needs to accept they are dead wrong (Perk and Ibaka seemed more like the best bigman combo in that series)
3. Nobody can match Westbrook…Not CP3…not Sessions…not Fisher…only Rose can and he’s out with a serious injury…so lets not blame anybody here…trading an aging vet in his final year of his contract is a smart move no matter how you look at it.

It was a good series. LAL lost 4-1 but if you really watched the games..other than Game 1 and the last quarter of Game 5….it was a tightly contested series throughout with both sides playing well and playing hard.

Other than a good PG and getting rid of either Pau or Bynum, they need another good swingman off the bench so when Metta and/or Kobe is resting, they are not weak in that area….IS GERALD GREEN available next year? athleticism and energy is a good back up to skilled but old

you are wrong in point #3. do not get me wrong, RW is a very talented point guard. but dont over emphasize it, without durant, he would just be another “talented” point guard like deron, monta, and whoever else. he is not a “superstar” so to speak in hi own right. a great wingman, yes, but never a boy wonder who could carry a team on his back kind of player.

Your are right if the Lakers would not have be blocked from get Chris Paul the would have bet OKC easy. Chris Paul is a much better all around PG. He make everyone around him better. Westbrock is just a scorer and if he is off he can not help his team. The is what the NBA Commissioner wanted.

not a superstar? you do realize he was # 5 in the entire NBA in scoring and that is with the NBA’s leading scorer on the same team, Westbrook can be flat out dominate. yes point guards have an occasional good night, but over the course of a 7 game series do you really expect him to be contained? LA even tried to have Kobe guard him, we all saw where that went. Westbrook is a superstar and that is why he made the all-star team, and is the floor general for one of the best teams in basketball.

westbrook isn’t the best PG in the NBA but i will tell you this, he is carrying the team more than durant is. the only reason why i don’t think this team will win is because they are a jumpshooting team and i always stick to the philosophy “live by the jumper, die by the jumper”. Although their defense is keeping them afloat, the much more mental and strategic Spurs will reveal the Thunders’ weaknesses, exploit them and win it in 7 or 6.

By the way. CP3’s team beat OKC 3-1 this year? don’t praise the Thunder just because they beat the immature and inconsistent Lakers who almost lost in the 1st round.

4 weeks ago Laker fans were very content with Sessions. I laughed because I didn’t see what big deal was over him and knew he wasn’t the answer for LA’s point problem. Now Laker fans also see they overhyped him.

Sessions is faster and younger than fisher. Physically speaking. he’s much better than Fisher, and SHOULD be much better defensively. If Fisher was the Lakers’ starting PG….Westbrook would have scored 50 every game perhaps..

Why do you think nobody can stop Lebron? It’s not because of his skills. It’s because he is the most physically dominant player in NBA History (yeah…more dominant than Shaq). All the skills in the world will not stop 6’8 260 lbs, can run faster than your average PG, can jump higher than your average dunker, and can move better than your average slasher…

That’s what I meant that there was NOBODY the Lakers could have traded for that can defensively match Westbrook…

Top 5 player next year? Haha what a good laugh, I’ll give you 5 players who’ll be better next year: Durant, Rose, Wade, James and Howard. Still not convinced or have a problem with some of those names? Well there’s more talent ahead of bryant right now (in his prime he was one of the best but right now he can only go downhill) so let’s throw some more guys who’ll have a better season than Bryant next year: Griffin, Paul, Love.

Let’s not forget that Bryant still can be effective with the right kind of people around him but certainly he can no longer carry a team on his back for a whole game (forget about a whole series), in game 4 Bryant was getting to the paint often and getting the calls until the fourth quarter came and he showed his age (and his lack of knees), then began the perimeter shooting (some good shots some terrible shots) while in his good years he would have keep getting to the paint the way he had been doing it (very effectively).

I agree with you on your other points, but the “Kobe can still play and will for a few more years and still be top 5 in the league easily” argument seems very biased (to not say ignorant).

yeahhhhhh im a heat fan, but im not dis-illusioned enough to think that wade is better than kobe. what you have to admire about kobe (and what jordan did before him) is that when he released he was losing his quickness, that ‘explosivenss’ to get inside, he adapted his game, became more a jump shooter and all round scorer. i haven’t seen wade adapt yet (remember the crazy crossovers and layups? he doesn’t pull that out consistently anymore)

Rose has a serious injury….and will be out for a VERY VERY LONG TIME…..so take him out of that list.

James and Durant is top 2 for sure…Wade? Nah…he’s out of the top 5….6’4…plays like a tornado, and can’t shoot the three ball…plus he shouts at his coach and tries to cover it up saying they are a family…yeah right. Unless you’re a Miami heat fan…it’s clear to see that Wade will have a drastic drop next year because of his play style, he’s prone to injury, and he is going to be 31 yrs old!!! Howard is the best center…but you never know what he’s going to do every year….so not sure about that.

Griffin? Hahaha…yeah right Be real man. Love..hell yeah..he’s top 5 for sure..but in a bad team…won’t really matter in the play offs…..Paul..OK…but as you saw..he ALSO can’t carry a team alone.

So James, Durant, Howard, and? Even if I give you Wade…which I won’t (you’ll see)…Kobe is the next guy there….Love? Won’t even make the play offs….maybe 8th seed at best and eliminated by the top seeded OKC.

RW is very good but at time he can also get very cold and loose temper easily. There are time when he’s shooting brick one after another, however Scott Brook is much wiser now controling the players. The next match against Parker will be very interesting!

Like farouut, I think you are wrong on point 3. You basicly say that Westbrook is the 2nd best pg in the game… CP3 can obviously match Westbrook, so can Rose like you said, but also D-Will, Rondo & Tony Parker. Its not like Westbrook is in a league of his own.

I would love to see Steve Nash in a Laker uniform. Yeah he is old. Yeah he is a defensive liabilty. Still, he would be a great pg for the Lakers. That aside im satisfied with Sessions, as long as he realizes his speed and explosiveness and becomes more aggresive, and works on that jumper.

Steve Nash, Michael Beasley, they would be great additions. And trade Bynum for Howard, even if we have to take Turkoglu with his bad contract. Well anything is fine, as long as the Lakers make some changes. Cause who’ll be our next franchise players when Kobe is gone?? Our time is now. Surround another solid supporting cast around Kobe and make one last run.

OK…like I said before….I was not clear and that’s my fault. Physically speaking. ..I think Westbrook is best amongst PG…maybe even top 3 in the NBA after Lebron and Howard….he is fast as heck, can jump, and is strong….

Parker is fast, but can’t jump and is not as strong….just PHYSICALLY speaking…only Rose can match Westbrook. Not saying he is the 2nd best PG in the League….

I am not a Laker fan (anymore) but they are still a good team and not done!
As you mentioned in point 1 Kobe does still the same things as he proved this year and will be on that level for at least 2 years. Maybe Pau is a step slower but no need to panic(see Tim Duncan).

What really brought them to this situation is their ARROGANCE! Last year behavin like thugs and this year too…bad Karma! And also they are a bit lachlustre in thinking they can pick it up if necessary…they couldnt!
They are not the best team anymore and need to accept that.

There are some intangibles in sport(as in life) like chemistry, luck and karma. Agree with Sekou, they made some bad moves as organization in not takin housemade Brian Shaw over Mike Brown, even though hes not bad. Also the unpatient trade attempts of shaking up a PROVEN championship roster with the result of Odom leaving. This paired with bad behaviour of Metta and Bynum and overconfidence of the whole team was their downfall!

Bottom line: No need to shake up the roster, just look in the mirrow, accept reality and get hungry again! (You cant buy nor trade for a championship anyway – see Miami).
Bynum and Gasol need to work on their offensive and mental game a bit and get a threat…Bynum started this year already…Sticking to a style of play for the whole game, not just 3/4…Metta needs make 15ppg flying under the radar. Kobe be Kobe and add a good benchstar or some more production off the bench and they be fine!

First off, I want to see how many people jump on the Spurs bandwagon now, and how many more jump ship for OKC. No matter what, I’m a Laker fan. 5 win season to a 73-9 season.
At the end of every quarter the Lakers folded, it was so hard to watch. I really think now, an OKC Spurs series WOULD be better than a Lakers Spurs series. The Lakers didn’t bring it to the table quite like OKC did. They played hard, but not hard when it counted. Drew grabbed 4 rebounds last night which there is just no explaination for. It was a good season, Mike Brown did a great job considering all the set backs (no training camp new pg) Lakers did great for a completely new system finishing with the 3 seed and making it to the 2nd round. This isn’t a complete failure, yes we fell short of our goal of a championship, but we did that well with a system they were still getting to know. I know all the haters are so happy right now, but to the OKC fans… At least when LA wins, we burn cars and riot, we don’t shoot people. 🙂

Like alot of people have said including myself a long time ago ( big ups to me ) Bynum has to go, way to inconsistent for someone who has, whether you like it or not, had plenty of learning experience in the big show. Even the so called small and week ( SHAQ ) Nuggets bigs made him look below average .
trade options Mr Kuchpak ( and I hope you keep him so I can laugh again in the post season if you make it)
1- HOWARD for whatever they want
2- Bynum for Monroe and Knight ( i doubt Motor city would go for it though so you’ll have to flash the cash )
3- Bynum for LA ( move pau to a playmaking C )
4- Bynum for D Wade ( LOL, but Miami need a C )
5- Bynum for Cousins and Thomas ( same as the Detroit thing but the Maloufs might need the cash more hint hint )
6- Bynum for early 1st rnd picks ( at least 2) somehow someway

Bottom Line!!! The Spurs don’t change thier offense, so why should the Lakers not run the triangle. Watch Pau be used as an overpriced Steve Novak was horrible! Pau at the elbow allow Ibaka to sprint to the lane for off ball blocks. What this series realy showed was how important Lamar Odom was and is!!! He was a match up nightmare for Ibaka when they beat OKC and would have been the differnce in this series. Lakers need to go back to the triangle trade Blake for Boobie Gibson. He is quick enough to gaurd elite point gaurds and can be new age Steve Kerr, just ask Mr. Big Shot. Go out and sign James Anderson off the Spurs Bench, he would be the new James Harden misus the bad haircut. Bring Back Lamar and Hill. This give you 4 solid role players and versitility. Anderson can play 2 or 3, Lamar 3.4.5, Hill 4.5 and Gibson can play 2 or 1. Gibson and Anderson can knock down three. Maybe sign Craig Brackins as well. Metta World Peace who nows? Plan B Pau for Paul George, Darrion Collison and Barbosa

u r right on the money. kobe still can be kobe doesn’t matter how many shots he took. paul is soft but not many big man has skills r like him… but, andrew bynum ….. i dont’ care what kind of talent does he have… if u don’t care about the game, ur team. city u r represent, then is time for u to go.. u have to love to play basketball to be a nba player; u have to push urslef every day
to be a super star and u have to have never give up attitude every game to be a champ.

I agree with you in some areas but i feel as if the bench needs to get involved with the flow of lakers gameplay. To many times ive seen laker’s pick outstanding players fresh out of college and not play them a prime example would be andrew goudelock and outstanding three point shooter and darius morris a well rounded basketball player these are the guys you need to look at in terms of building a franchise team in years to come ive seen the lakers make some unbearable trades such as shannon brown and lamar odom and lets not forget trevor ariza.Me being a laker we already know the potential of our bigs so there names should not be mentioned when we talk about knowing rolls thats why you have rookies and you have pro’s if there is noone to lead by example then the team crumbles. Im edger to see what the lakers do with this time they have until the new season rolls around but i can only sit back watch and wait…the los angeles lakers franchise is like a horror movie there’s always gonna be a sequal.